# AI Emotional Intimacy Market Risks

**Podcast:** FT Tech Tonic
**Published:** 2026-02-04

## Transcript

Could you fall in love with an AI chatbot?
Hi, I'm Sarah.
The second that she got the name that she became Sarah, I realized how easy it was to be intimate with an AI companion.
I'm Christina Criddle, and I write about artificial intelligence for the Financial Times.
In a new season of Tectonic, I explore how people are turning to AI for friendship, for therapy, and even for love.
I was like, isn't he so sweet and endearing?
And I was just like, yeah, I I love him.
I feel in love with him.
I'll be speaking to people who've had transformative emotional experiences with chatbots, hearing about the positive things, but also how this technology can go so wrong.
When I look at these chatbots and I see what it's doing to our children, I realize that this was the incarnation of evil.
It basically ripped my heart apart the same as if it was someone who'd been gaslighting me, lying to me, saying I loved you, but I didn't.
This thing has me thinking I'm about to get killed.
Like I literally thought I was done.
Like that they were gonna come get me.
What role, if any, should AI play in our emotional lives?
Artificial intimacy, a new season of Tectonic from the Financial Times, begins on February the 11th.
Find it wherever you get your podcasts.